Monday, December 31, 2007

Complete combustion gives off light, heat, and the gases carbon dioxide and watervapor. Because when wood burns complete combustion does not occur, it alsoproduces wood smoke, which contains the following major air pollutants, which areregulated by State and Federal regulations because of their known health effects:Carbon Monoxide (CO) – An odorless, colorless gas,produced in large amounts by burning wood with insufficientair. CO reduces the blood’s ability to supply oxygen to bodytissues, can cause stress on your heart and reduce your abilityto exercise. Exposure to CO can cause long-termhealth problems, dizziness, severe headaches,unconsciousness and other serious effects. Those most at riskfrom CO poisoning are the unborn child, and people withanemia, heart, circulatory or lung disease.

Oxides of Nitrogen (NOx) – NOx impairs the respiratory system and its ability tofight infection. NOx also combines with VOCs and contributes to the formation ofozone and with water vapor to form acid rain or acid fog.

such asbenzene, formaldehyde and benzo-a-pyrene, a polycyclicaromatic hydrocarbon (PAH). Manufactured fireplace logs, forinstance, are not recommended for burning because theyproduce toxic fumes, including PCBs (polychlorinated biphenyls). Researchers arenow studying these and other smoke products to learn more about their effects onhuman health.Particulate Matter less than 10 microns indiameter (PM10) are very small droplets ofcondensed organic vapors of wood tar andgases. These particles are a result of unburnedfuel and have a diameter of 10 microns orsmaller (the diameter of a human hair is about50 to 100 microns), which allows them to beinhaled into the lungs. Exposure to PM10aggravates a number of respiratory illnesses.PM10 includes a smaller group of particles called PM2.5, particles with diameters of2.5 microns and less. These finer particles pose an increased health risk becausethey can lodge deep in the lungs and contain substances that are particularly harmfulto human health, contributing to lung diseases and cancer. Exposure to PM2.5 mayeven cause premature death in people with existing heart and lung disease.

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Just so that "Anonymous" has an idea of what I and others have to go through when your lung collapses from breathingtoxic smoke here is a lovely graphic photo of post surgery.

Now, that photo shows the easy peasy part.

The tough part is when the lung actually collapses and you are gasping for air on the side of the street , waiting for the paramedics to come." Oh look Dahhhhling, there's our neighbor gasping for air . Doesn't she look serene with all that lovely grey smoke wafting around her fallen body. , Another glass of wine and another log for the fire dear ?

But that really doesn't compare to the out of this world kind of pain when they stick a 14 inch long needle into your lungs to aspirate the lung and then the ribbed intercostal drainage tube gets rammed thru your spayed rib cage.

Yeah , its a real joy walking around with a drainage tube sticking out of your side , which is connected to some sort of alarm system that goes off when ever your levels go above or below .

But the best part was 7 days of morphine while in the ICU unit. I sure needed it after seeing the hospital bill - $ 141,000.00 Thank goodness I had some form of health insurance. Only had to pay 10 grand for out of pocket expenses.

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas, my ass.

Several days after my new neighbors moved in I noticed smoke wafting INSIDE of my house.As I investigated I noticed that my neighbors had huge amounts of dark gray wood smoke billowing out of their chimney.Their chimney is about 15 feet from my house and attic vent.Evidently when the prevailing wind blows easterly the smoke from their chimney blows directly into my attic vent and the smoke then settles in the walls of my house.

This is not so good of a thing for a woman who has only half of a left lung and the other lung is severely compromised with a hereditary form of emphysema.

A week or two, just after these new neighbor moved in , I kindly went over to their house and introduced myself and informed them of my lung disease and asked them if they would curtail their use of the fire place, especially on Spare the Air nights and during our mild winter days.

The woman said that they would’ never even think’ of burning wood in the fireplace during the day but at nights they like to cozy up to a wood fire and enjoy a glass of wine.She said she would ask her new landlord if he would clean the fireplace .Errr, Umm Lady ! , I don’t think you are getting it . .. _ _“ I have only one fully functioning lung, A clean fireplace spewing carbon monoxide is not a considerate thing to do.” But please, do go ahead and have that glass of wine while you pollute the neighborhood air with toxic carbon monoxide, Voc and particulate matter. “ .. please do !

I mentioned that cleaning the fireplace would really have no bearing on the unhealthful pollution that would still spew from the fire place but she really didn’t seem to be too concerned about pollution control within our neighborhood.

On Christmas eve I was awoken by smoke wafting down through my walls and into the cracked opening of my bedroom window.My neighbors fireplace was pouring thick dark gray smoke into my attic / roof vents and the smoke was settling down around the base of my house and in the houses walls. I tossed and turned for an hour or so then at about 1 am went into the garage , erected a ladder, and set a old fan in motion to blow the smoke out of the house.

The smoke in my walls subsided but the smoke that accumulated around the base of my house could still be smelled. And when you can smell smoke you are breathing in smoke.

The next day , a warm and balmy 58 -60 degree and the fireplace was still bellowing dark grey smoke across the roof and grounds of my house I went over to my neighbors house and again asked them to refrain from using their fire place on Spare the Air nights and especially during the day light hours.They did not show any signs of understanding and their son dismissed me by saying “ have a merry christmas’.

Being sleep and oxygen deprived for the last couple of days I yelled back,” A very fucking merry christmas my ass. “

Now that’s the holiday spirit ! As I write this I have just filled out an application for in house oxygen tanks.Thanks Santa, Just what I wanted. I love having that fucking hose stuck up my nose and dragging that lovely oxygen tank around where ever I go.

Monday, December 24, 2007

If you are dreaming about your next stress reducing vacation then you might consider creating a spa sanctuary in your own back yard.

Total relaxation, rejuvenation and a sense of balanced calm can easily be achieved in your every day life by simply taking the time to go to a place within your mind and cultivating inner peace .

A simple secluded quiet niche in ones own garden can make for a wonderfully peaceful natural refuge for our tired and battered souls to go to for relaxation and rejuvenation. Add in the warm healing waters of a clarifying spa infused with mineral rich herbs and nirvana is yours.

In creating ‘A Zen Spa Garden’ for the upcoming 2008 San Francisco Garden Show the team of Derviss + Chavez Design + Build have chosen to craft an ethno-modern spa sanctuary designed to inspirit the heart, imbue the senses and inspire the eye of the beholder.

A sense of total seclusion will be created by cloistering the spa room in a living green hedge of bamboo and lush savory succulents. A generously proportioned hand crafted stone soaking tub from Concrete Works Studio of Oakland is overseen by stone carvings from Bali along with a comfortable chaise lounge from Indonesia. Essential oils, herbal tea, a spot of lawn to practice some yoga and a cool refreshing outdoor shower area adds to the this soothing peaceful personal sanctuary.

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

At Gardens Gone Wild Blog they are discussing the topic of fences in the landscape .

I think most of us are familiar with the beloved time honored white picket fence and the ubiquitous wooden board and batten fence so I’ll bring a twist to the table and offer up some different types of fence like armatures.

In this first photo you’ll see a bright red stucco water feature / wall. It is 40 inches tall and about 6 feet long. There was once 6 foot tall solid wooden fence in its place. When we torn down the wood fence we did not want to replace it with just a shorter version so we choose to use a red stucco wall and interjected a water feature into the spatial division.

In this second photo you’ll see 3 concrete spheres and a core ten steel arc behind them.There was once a fence in this location and instead of replacing it with another one we choose to use core ten steel to create a fence between two garden spaces.

The next photo shows a project crafted up in Squaw Valley CA. Originally the owners wanted a tall privacy fence to block the views between themselves and their neighbours.We opted to build a metal fence / privacy screen on top of the stone wall , thus fencing out the neighboring views into this private entertainment area.

The next two photos show gates that are apart of a fencing system. They are handcrafted wrought iron , a favorite medium of mine to design with.

The next photo is a pretty common fence that I designed about 17 years ago.I’m including it because I like the way it falls in and out of a straight line thus giving way to some narrow planting beds along the lap pool .

The next two photos take the idea of a fence and turns it into a privacy screen.Simple lattice panels do the trick to provide a sense of separation and privacy between neighoring properties.

Sunday, December 16, 2007

I’ve been toiling away at making the sculptural element that will be placed behind the concrete bathtub supplied by Concrete Works Studio which will be displayed at the 2008 San Francisco Garden Show.

The ‘glass mosaic wall ‘ is 5 feet wide and sits above the tub by 5 feet.It has a shadow box window cut away at the center where a Balinese stone Buddha head will sit and a sheet of cascading water will pour out from below the Buddha head and fall into the cast concrete bath tub below. ( SEE POST BELOW FOR SKETCH )

The process for building the glass mosaic wall is slightly altered from the normal steps that I would take for making a glass mosaic because of the over all large size of this particular project and because I wanted greater control on blending the colored paper appliqués.

Normally the steps would go as follows ( simplified )

1. Cut Hardie Backer Board to size

2. Paint the Backer Board

3. Apply a thin coat of 2 part epoxy - about as thick as a credit card

2. This photo shows the Hardie Backer Board painted with water based paints. Note the hole in the center . This is where the Buddha head is going to go and the cascading water fall.

3. In this photo you can see the individual colored paper chips being placed and glued onto the Hardie Board. - This is partially completed . I have another thousand or so more little chips of paper to glue on.

4. This photo shows another table in my shop that has some of the tempered safety glass already broken and ready to be epox’ed ontop of the Backer Board.

The next step is for the epoxy to be applied to the board.I’ll capture that Kodak moment when I am finished gluing on the other 999 pieces of paper chips onto the board.

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About Me

I'm irreverent.
Consumed by seeing art and design
in everyday life.
For a full BIO , with a list of publications, awards and philosophy see my website:-----------
WWW .dervissdesign.com-----------
Michelle has been sculpting gardens for the past 27 years.
She strongly believes that the most successful gardens are those that capture the spirit of the individual and the essence of the site .
Together in our unified efforts our team strives to create sculptural gardens that Inspirit the Heart, Imbue the Senses and Inspires the Eye of the Beholder.